ObamaCare Cost-Estimate Watch, Day #265

NYT: Another judge may fell Obamacare
U.S. District Judge Roger Vinson, 70, is on senior status in Northern Florida but he was called back to the court to hear the 20-state challenge to ObamaCare.  The Reagan appointee has handled big cases — including a 1985 Abortion clinic bombing, a city banning “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and Shoney’s $134 million race Discrimination settlement. So the spotlight does not seem to bother him. The New York Times reported that Judge Vinson promised to rule as quickly ...

Obama Ratifies Bush Tax Cuts As Liberal Policy
He signed on the line that is dotted. President Obama signed into law the most significant tax bill in nearly a decade Friday, a day after overcoming liberal resistance in Congress to continue for two more years Tax Breaks enacted under president George W. Bush and to provide a fresh federal boost for the tepid Economic Recovery. The downsides: There is still pork in the deal that must be cut out as well as funds to implement ObamaCare. (It's possible that won't be an issue at some point this y...

Republicans embrace ObamaCare, call it Ryan-Rivlin
If you're looking for a description of the Ryan/Rivlin Medicare reforms that have gained so many admirers on the right, Matt Yglesias has a good write-up of the idea. But I'd add another way of explaining the proposal: The Ryan-Rivlin plan basically turns Medicare into ObamaCare. And in that context, Republicans love the idea behind ObamaCare and think it'll save lots of money. Under the Ryan-Rivlin plan, the current Medicare program is completely dissolved and replaced by a new Medicare program...

Questions Asked and Answered
I will stop referring to it as ObamaCare when we stop calling them the Bush Tax Cuts for the rich. It is an effective shorthand for a law that is otherwise unwieldy to describe. If legislators wanted me to call it something else, they should have given it a catchy name like "Medicare", not a hypertrophied piece of Propaganda like the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. I don't know why the left considers the term particularly perjorative; it is a Health Care program, and it is Barack Oba...

What does it mean to have a theory of federalism?
At the risk of being tediously repetitious, I have to take exception to an assertion by Jason Mazzone in today's New York Times. According to Mazzone's op-ed piece, Judge Hudson's distinction between action and inaction in his decision striking down the "minimum essential coverage" rule is "a limit that makes sense of past cases, is steeped in the law’s traditions and allows the court to complete the task it began a century ago." I beg to differ: As I've noted earlier for believing that th...

Politifact's Latest Failure
Get alerts when there is a new article that might interest you. If you had to rank the biggest political lie of 2010, what would it be? The utter horse-hockey that we’ve somehow proven that the stimulus created a zillion-billion long-term jobs and acted like a fiscal-policy Powerbar for The Economy? The president’s oft-repeated and flatly untrue statement that under the Health Care overhaul, if you like your doctor or your health plan, you can keep it? The contrived justifications fo...

Is it Time for Democrats to Fight Obama?
Finally, you have to ask why Democrats who were willing to fight Bush are crumbling in front of Obama? He claims to be the leader of your party, but honestly who cares? If he is doing the exact opposite of what you claim to stand for, why does it matter what he calls himself? Democrats would certainly have fought a surge in Afghanistan if Bush was in charge. They would be complaining about warrantless Wiretapping if Bush continued that program instead of Obama. They would have hated the monop...

Obama signs tax-cut bill in White House ceremony - Glenn Thrush and Abby Phillip
President Barack Obama celebrated the spirit of Compromise Friday as he signed a Controversial $858 billion tax-cut and Unemployment Insurance extension into law — but warned that Bipartisan comity could be fleeting. The bill, the result of a deal Obama cut with Senate Republicans over the objections of many Democrats, was a major victory for a White House that spent much of the past two years battling a unified GOP on the stimulus and Health Care reform. Continue Reading Text Size - ...

Congress throws a tea party
Overall, a pretty good day for those who believe in low taxes and less spending. Here is the money graph from my upcoming Reuters Breakingviews column: Democrats and Republicans in Congress are gridlocked over the $1.1 Trillion 2011 Budget. So they will likely pass a temporary spending measure to keep the government running for another month or two. This creates a situation next year where incoming Tea Party Republicans can a) combine a threat of government shutdown with b) a refusal to raise t...

Instead of a Truce, Find Common Ground
Abortion is always a hot button issue in campaigns for national office. The 2008 presidential cycle was no exception as each Candidate was questioned extensively regarding their pro-life views and the history of their decision making on the issue. Mike Huckabee, however, was one of the few who actually engaged in a meaningful discussion about what it means to be Pro-Life. He never avoided the issue and would often begin to discuss it himself during interviews if he felt the issue was being neg...

Reid adds lands bill to Senate load
As if Democrats did not have enough on their plates in the lame-duck session, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced Friday that he has introduced yet another piece of Legislation – a lands bill that would designate wilderness areas in three different states and add thousands of miles to the national trail system. Reid plans to call several votes in the final days of the lame-duck session on the DREAM Act and the Repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” as well a ...

Newt Gingrich Touts Incoming House Leadership as Job Creators
When asked by Sean Hannity how Republicans are going to counter attacks by Democrats that their leadership doesn't care that they are supporting policies that characterize "Republicans as wanting to kick granny out on the street and have grandma and grandpa eat dog food", Newt Gingrich offered this defense of their incoming committee chairs. HANNITY: Let’s look ahead to the next Congress. When they start to take power in the House on Jan. 5th and we have more Republican Senators, first ord...

Obama Salutes Spirit of Compromise, Signs Tax Bill
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama saluted a new spirit of political Compromise Friday as he signed into law a huge tax bill extending cuts for all Americans - including benefits for the rich that he and congressional liberals had denounced - along with billions of dollars in help for the Middle Class and jobless workers. "It's a good deal for the American People; this is progress and that's what they sent us here to achieve," Obama said as a rare Bipartisan assembly of lawmakers looked on. ...

ObamaCare: the Beginning of the End?
As Jennifer Rubin notes at the Washington Post: The extension of the Bush Tax Cuts is an ideological and immediate victory for Conservatives, but hampering the funding of ObamaCare may be the most legislatively significant development of the week. Republicans aim to hold an Up or Down vote on Repeal and, if that fails, to dismantle the Legislation’s key provisions. A central element of that strategy, of course, will be halting its funding.It is a reminder for Democrats that their “...

Space Cheese and Other Breakthroughs
If you had been onboard the Dragon capsule last week as it was launched into orbit and then quickly retrieved after a Pacific Ocean splashdown, you would have enjoyed “a very nice ride” according to SpaceX founder Elon Musk. But the occupants of this test flight—the first successful launch and recovery of a pressurized capsule by a commercial space company—were limited to some ballast weights, souvenirs for the crew, and this wheel of Le Brouère cheese. The cheese was sent along

ObamaCare Death Panels begin early: FDA pulls Avastin approval for breast cancer OVER COST CONCERNS
Under ObamaCare, drugs will not be approved that will save or extend lives unless it is cheap enough. Forget the billions of dollars in research that it took to create the drug in the first place. If it's more expensive than a tic tac, no soup for you! Remember that Obama said on national TV that pain pills may be preferable to actual treatment: So say you have Breast Cancer. Avastin can help you. The problem? It's not cheap, and thus it is unfair for you to get it when Low Income people can no...

Will spending cuts erase the tax cut stimulus?
On the heels of the demise of omnibus spending bill in the Senate, where it was blocked by the very same Republicans who helped write the bill in the first place, David Dayen and Adam Serwer raise a key question: will the looming spending battle of 2011 end with steep cuts that erase the stimulative impact of President Obama's Tax Cut deal? David: There were two major things to move in the Lame Duck, according to Republicans: the tax cuts, and funding the government. They now got what they want...

Was Health Bill a Government Takeover?
By Janet Adamy PolitiFact.com, a project of the St. Petersburg Times, has selected as its “lie of the year” the phrase “A government takeover of Health Care.” The phrase became a rallying cry for congressional Republicans and other foes of the Obama Administration’s health-care overhaul during the fight to pass the Legislation. PolitiFact contends “government takeover” isn’t accurate because the law relies largely on the existing system of health coverage provided by

Politifacts Lie of the Year Is An Exaggeration With Elements of Truth
If you had to rank the biggest political lie of 2010, what would it be? The utter horse-hockey that we’ve somehow proven that the stimulus created a zillion-billion long-term jobs and acted like a fiscal-policy Powerbar for The Economy? The president’s oft-repeated and flatly untrue statement that under the Health Care overhaul, if you like your doctor or your health plan, you can keep it? The contrived justifications for describing ObamaCare as indisputably “fiscally responsible” d

NYC is Raising Parking Meter Rates to Close Budget Gap
(Alex Goldmark, Transportation Nation) It will be more expensive to park in New York City next month. The Department of Transportation announced Parking Meter prices will increase around the city. The rates for Manhattan below 86th street—the most congested part of the city—are set to go from $2.50 per hour to $3 per hour. Throughout the rest of the city, where it costs 25 cents for 20 minutes, or 75 cents an hour, a quarter will now buy you just 15 minutes. The fee raise is part of Mayor Mi...

When at first you dont succeed, lie, lie again
PolitiFact has picked its 2010 Lie of the Year, and to nobody’s surprise it is “A government takeover of Health Care” repeated over and over (and over) again by the Republicans in describing Obama’s health care Reform Bill. PolitiFact had already evaluated statements from Republicans using this phrase five times and rated it a lie every time (and three times a “Pants on Fire” lie). PolitiFact is not alone. Slate, the NY Times, and even FactCheck.org, which is ...

Retiree Care To Cost City $4.4 Billion
After months of delays, the San Francisco controller's office announced Thursday that it expected the city to pay $4.4 billion to provide municipal Retirees and their dependents with lifetime health benefits. The city has set aside $9.7 million to cover the costs. The estimate of San Francisco's unmet Health Care liability has been closely watched by Ratings agencies, labor Unions and other groups concerned about the city's long-term finances. Moody's Investors Service downgraded San Francisco's...

A Modest Proposal for Stimulating the Economy: Create More Taxpayers
Earlier this afternoon President Obama signed into law the tax Compromise he hammered out with Republicans, but not everyone was happy. Neither incoming House Speaker John Boehner nor outgoing Speaker Nancy Pelosi attended the signing ceremony, albeit for diametrically opposite reasons. Boehner’s absence was a Protest to the bill’s inclusion of an additional $313 billion of stimulus, Pelosi’s an expression of dissatisfaction that the bill doesn’t stick it to the top two p...

Weekly Hot List
Fast facts from Gallup related to top stories in the news: U.S. Tax Bill: 49% wanted Congress to pass the tax package; 32% did not Liberal Revolt?: 79% approval for Obama among Liberal Democrats last week was lowest yet Legislative Report Card: 13% Approval Rating for Congress is lowest in Gallup history Shoppers' Moods: -31 Economic Confidence Index marks a decline from last month Latin America Rains: 28% in region say they are prepared for a Natural Disaster To get all of our stories, sign u...

Geithner defends US crisis response
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner told a panel overseeing the government’s Bailout programs yesterday that the Obama Administration’s response to the Financial Crisis helped pull the nation from the brink of economic collapse but a full recovery is years away. “It’s fair to say that the worst part, the most dangerous part, of this financial storm has passed us,’’ Geithner told the Bipartisan Congressional Oversight Panel. “But the c...